Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
A Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage is on hunger strike in Italy, citing health issues and prison conditions. Concerns over his rights are raised.
By Emilio Parodi
MILAN (Reuters) -A Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines has gone on hunger strike because Italian authorities are violating his fundamental rights by ignoring his poor health condition, his lawyer said on Monday.
Bureaucratic hurdles and prison rules have prevented the suspect, known only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, from receiving food appropriate to his condition, the lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, told Reuters, causing him to lose a lot of weight.
Serhii K. was arrested in Italy in August on a European arrest warrant issued by Germany over the blasts, which severed Russian gas transit to Europe. Canestrini said in September that his client denied any involvement in the attacks.
An Italian appeals court in Bologna last month ordered that the suspect be transferred to Germany. The former Ukrainian officer is currently being held in an Italian high-security prison pending a further hearing at the Court of Cassation, the top court, which is expected to take place within about a month.
"SK has been refusing food for 10 days now due to his health condition and has already lost nine kilos," Canestrini said, adding that this raised "serious concerns about respect for international humanitarian law".
Canestrini said his client suffered from pancreatitis and coeliac disease - an autoimmune condition triggered by certain foods - as well as being vegan.
"What's more, he is a non-smoker and has been forced to share a cell for two and a half months with other inmates who smoke 24 hours a day," he added.
Italy's Prison Administration Directorate and Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament's commissioner for human rights, said on Sunday he had urged Italian authorities to respect the suspect's rights to adequate nutrition and a healthy detention environment.
No one has claimed responsibility for the 2022 explosions, which both Moscow and the West described as an act of sabotage. Ukraine has denied any role.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Gareth Jones)
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent protest where an individual refuses to eat food to draw attention to a cause or to protest against perceived injustices.
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine. It requires a strict gluten-free diet for management.
International humanitarian law is a set of rules that seek to limit the effects of armed conflict for humanitarian reasons, protecting those who are not participating in hostilities.
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